


Nothing Short of a Miracle

by HDO



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M, Season 2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-20
Updated: 2013-03-27
Packaged: 2017-12-05 21:50:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/728276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HDO/pseuds/HDO
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So maybe their relationship is kind of perfect, but it's also really ridiculous and pretty much nothing short of a miracle. </p>
<p>A story capturing moments from the relationship that Steve and Danny accidentally got themselves into.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Surprise, this was actually the first H50 fic I ever wrote! I wrote it over August and September of 2012 while waiting for season 3 to come on, and as such it's vaguely set in season 2. I then gave it to my sister to edit after finishing the original draft, she took a few months to do so, I got it back and cringed with my fresh eyes at my rusty just-back-into-writing writing, rewrote some of one chapter, then...yeah, stopped doing that, as evidenced that it's now March 2013 and I'm just posting it. My motivation ran out before because I was worried that it was too silly and cheesy and beyond saving. But then I decided, what the hell, I took all that time to write it, so I'll post it. But first, I've got to seriously edit each chapter, because as previously hinted at, the original draft is a HOT MESS. So, I'll be posting each chapter as they're edited. Enjoy!

_“You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It's just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.”_  
\- Paulo Coelho

  


Danny just knew this time was it. He, Chin, and Kono had escaped the building after it had somehow caught fire while they were inside pursuing their perp. Steve, however, was nowhere to be seen. They stood there tensely, watching as the flames grew higher and higher in the night sky.

Chin had had the good sense to call for emergency help as soon as they saw fire and hightailed it out of there. Danny could hear sirens approaching, but it didn’t assuage his fear much.

“Chin, this doesn’t feel good. Why are we standing here?” Danny yelled over the crackling flames. 

“Just wait,” Chin responded evenly, reaching out to the side to grip Danny’s forearm like he was an animal about to bolt. “There’s no need to jeopardize ourselves needlessly. He has it under control.”

“Couz?” Kono asked, voice pitched high in alarm. 

“Just _wait_ ,” Chin insisted emphatically. The shrill of sirens grew louder and louder behind them.

With impeccable timing, as the fire truck halted and a team of firefighters simultaneously jumped out to take action, Steve burst from the building with their perp. A flaming wood beam fell from the withering entrance of the building just moments after he crossed the building’s threshold. 

Scruffed by the back of his shirt collar, the perp was struggling against Steve’s grip and yelling obscenities at Steve’s face. Steve just calmly dragged him along as he swaggered towards Danny.

Before he even fully stopped, Steve thrust the guy at him, breathing hard. “Book him, Danno.” 

“ _Fuck_ you guys! Fucking cops! Fuck this!” The perp yelled in Danny’s face. Danny rolled his eyes and signaled Steve to turn him around, the guy still carrying on.

“Okay, buddy, okay, I said _okay_ ,” Danny tried to placate as Steve helpfully manhandled the guy until his back was facing Danny. As Danny snatched his wrists and handcuffed him, the perp transitioned seamlessly from his vitriolic spew to coughing up a lung. “Great, you broke him, McGarrett. Just fantastic,” Danny muttered irritably under his breath.

Steve cocked his head at Danny, over the perp’s head. “Excuse me?” he asked accusingly. “I just saved this guy from his own arson.”

Danny barked out a derisive laugh. “Ah, yeah, you’re right, you’re the hero, saving this prick from his own stupidity.”

Steve stared at Danny incredulously, dumbfounded by his response.

“Here, let me do it,” Chin said tersely, intervening the situation with a chastising look for Danny and Steve each. He took the perp with a firm tug away from Danny, who was by then ignoring the guy beyond the grip he had on him in order to better glare at Steve. 

“Yeah, thanks,” Danny said offhandedly to Chin, then grabbed one of Steve's elbows and maneuvered Steve over to a nearby tree. 

Steve yanked his elbow out of Danny’s hold before Danny finished dragging him away. “What is wrong with you?” he groused. “Did you _really_ want me to leave him in there to burn alive?”

“What is wrong with _me?_ What is wrong with _you!_ ” Danny gestured wildly at Steve. “What took you so damn long to get out of there!”

“Danny, I had it under control. This wasn’t my first time getting caught in a burning building, or my second or third–”

“Huh, ‘second or third,’ cute,” Danny cut in snidely.

"-The point is, I had the guy and I knew a relatively safe way to get back out,” Steve finished, trying to keep his voice on the side of matter-of-fact instead of exasperated. 

“Okay, _wow_ , do we need to break down that statement into digestible _parts_ ,” Danny countered loudly, then started counting on his fingers. “No number of times you’ve been in a burning building matters, Steve, because it’s a _burning building_. The fact that you’ve survived them this many times means you have been cheating death and that the Reaper is waiting to cash in pretty much anytime you try these shenanigans. And _relatively_ safe?” Danny gave up counting on his fingers to point a finger in Steve’s face. “So that means, what, that it was maybe a little less dangerous than purposefully lighting yourself on fire? You think your spin is going to make me feel better? _Huh?_ ” 

Danny leaned into Steve to drive his point home, the tip of his finger poking Steve’s chest. 

Steve stared menacingly down his nose at Danny’s red face, mere inches from his own. “Yes, Danny, I do. I was just trying to explain to you why you don’t need to get in my face and _yell_ at me for doing what needed–”

“Am I yelling? Am I?” Danny reared back and gestured at himself grandly, yelling.

“Why do you care so much, anyways, huh?” Steve answered, much more loudly than before, something snapping in him. He got in Danny’s face, nostrils flaring and breathing hard, goading him. “Huh?”

“Why do I _care?_ Why do I–” Danny cut himself off, too enraged to continue. 

Danny wanted to keep yelling. He wanted to punch Steve’s stupid face. Instead, he pulled Steve down by the front of his bulletproof vest and kissed him, hard.

Before Steve could react, Danny pulled back roughly and let go of Steve’s vest like it too was on fire. Steve just stared at him with his mouth agape.

The moment was interrupted by someone clearing her throat beside them. “Excuse me, Commander McGarrett, but we need to check you for smoke inhalation.”

Steve loped off towards the ambulance, not bothering to wait for the paramedic or to look back at Danny. The paramedic gave Danny a chastising look much like Chin’s, then hurried off after Steve. Danny raked a hand through his hair. 

“Please do, he’s pretty much always full of hot air,” Danny griped at her retreating back. 

\---

Once the scene wound down, Steve tried to ask Danny about whatever the hell had happened. But anytime Steve opened his mouth during the drive home in the Camaro, Danny just snapped, “ _don’t_.” Steve finally conceded his refusal to talk with an angry flourish of his hand. (Danny was apparently really starting to rub off on him.)

The next day at the office, Danny continued to avoid Steve, but eventually Steve was not going to take no for an answer. “You are coming over to my house after work, and we are going to talk about this,” he commanded in his sternest voice to Danny across the tech table, feet firm and shoulders square. 

“Okay, that sounds reasonable,” Danny answered casually, and then simply walked off to his office. Steve could have spit nails.

Like their drive to work that morning, their drive to Steve’s was completely silent, the tension in the air so thick it could have been cut with a knife. After Danny parked and followed Steve into the house, Steve took a detour to get two beers out of the fridge and then met Danny out in the backyard at the edge of the shore.

He handed one of the beers to Danny and then stood stiffly next to him, both of them facing the ocean. “So. Now’s a good time to start explaining yourself,” he offered, a little more testily than he had intended. 

“Fair enough,” Danny replied, his easy tone at odds with their entire day of strain. “And really, it’s easy enough, too.” Danny took in a deep breath, as if bracing himself. “You asked me why I cared so much, and I answered.”

Steve turned his head slowly to look at Danny, his irritation draining away as it dawned upon him what Danny was admitting. “Oh.”

When Steve didn’t answer immediately, Danny said a little too loudly, “Well, okay, this was fun,” then tried to shove his beer into Steve’s hand. “I think we've filled our awkward confessions quota for the day, or year, so that's good. Thanks for the beer, have a second one on me!” he said hastily, flustered and still trying to shove his beer into Steve’s unwilling hand. 

“Danny–” Steve said exasperatedly, cutting off when they fumbled the beer. It sloshed over their shoes as it fell to the ground between their feet, which were now toe-to-toe. 

“Danny,” Steve repeated again, this time much more softly. He looked up from the beer bottle between their feet and looked into Danny’s eyes, trying to read Danny’s uncharacteristically anxious face. “Hold on, just give me a sec.”

“Okay. Okay,” Danny replied nervously, then awkwardly bent down to pick up the beer bottle. Once he had stood up he turned to face the ocean again, one hand gripping the now sandy beer bottle and the other shoved in a pocket. “So you don't mind. That’s very progressive and kind of you, but let’s not let this turn into a charity case, where you pity me and let me down easy, because I can handle rejection, all right, I’m an old hand at it.”

Steve, still facing Danny, just watched his profile carefully. “Danny, it’s not like that.”

“Then was is it like, Steve?” Danny demanded as he turned his head to look at Steve pleadingly, a hint of desperation in his voice. 

Steve dropped his eyes and gazed out at the ocean, scratching the back of his head with his free hand. When Steve heard Danny shift to face Steve, he shut his eyes and shook his head once, chastising himself for stalling, and made himself turn back to Danny. Danny met his gaze with an expectant one of his own, chin pointed slightly up in defiance. The Danny Steve knew was back, and was clearly demanding an answer.

“This would be a clear case of fraternization,” Steve finally said. 

Danny looked blankly at Steve in confusion. “It was one kiss, Steve. I don’t think Governor Denning is going to dismantle Five-Oh and tarnish your highly decorated reputation over just _one kiss_.” 

When Steve answered by fidgeting uncomfortably and looking away again, Danny’s eyes lit up. “Oh. If only you had lived in the time of silent film,” he joked.

Steve swung his head back to Danny and scrunched up his face in confusion. “What?”

“Nothing, never mind, you’re fine,” Danny answered reassuringly, then patted his free hand on Steve’s shoulder. He left it there.

Steve looked at Danny’s hand, then into Danny’s face, eyebrows furrowed in serious contemplation. He breathed in deeply and let it out slowly, gaze unwaveringly focused on Danny’s.

Danny raised his eyebrows in amusement. “Don’t think so hard, you’ll break–”

Steve dropped his beer and dived in to kiss Danny, reaching up to cradle his face with both hands. Danny dropped his own beer bottle in surprise, but just as quickly reciprocated with his own hands. 

And like that, it was as if all of their pent-up frustration and fondness was all rolled up together and let out with their increasingly heated kiss. 

“You, you animal, what took you so long?” Danny demanded breathily between kisses. 

“I could ask you the same thing,” Steve nearly growled, then moaned reflexively as Danny answered by nipping at his bottom lip.

Eventually Steve eased them down into the sand, making it easier for them to reach each other, until – 

“Steve, stop, stop! Sand is going down my pants, I am getting sand in my ass!”

And that’s how it began.


	2. Defined

_“This is one of the miracles of love: It gives a power of seeing through its own enchantments and yet not being disenchanted.”_  
\- C.S. Lewis

 

Steve was sure Danny would agree to officially moving in.

Dinner at Steve’s after work (whenever there wasn’t a grueling case taking a normal life schedule and throwing it out the window for them) went from being occasional to nearly every night. Then the dinners began segueing into sleepovers, and the sleepovers began segueing into unacknowledged cohabitation. It got to the point where Danny was only staying the night at his apartment when he had Grace. 

Steve also started noticing other tells that Danny was getting very comfortable in his home. Steve sorted out another man’s underwear (Steve’s boxer briefs from Danny’s boxers) on laundry day. His mom’s old clothing iron and pop-up ironing board used to be politely put away every morning, but eventually they just stayed out in the spare bedroom permanently. The same went for Danny’s hairdryer, gel, and round brush in the master bathroom (that one drove Steve crazy – really, why did he need so much stuff for his hair?)

To more definitively determine Danny’s feelings about moving in, Steve experimented by inviting Danny to have Grace stay at his house with the two of them for one of Danny’s weekends with her. Danny simply shrugged and said, “okay.” According to Danny, Rachel apparently agreed to the idea without skipping a beat, and additionally commented that Steve’s house was far superior to any of the places Danny had been renting out. Check and check. 

As a final experiment to add to his observations, Steve bought Danny a toothbrush and left it out on the master bathroom’s counter, still in its box. Steve never saw Danny’s old, raggedy toothbrush and the equally abused plastic baggy it traveled in next to the sink again, but did see that the new toothbrush now lived in the toothbrush cup next to Steve’s. Seeing this collective evidence as all systems go, Steve was confident that when asked if he wanted to move in, Danny would probably do no more than once again shrug and say, “okay.”

Danny scrunched up his nose. “Move in?” he said incredulously. 

Steve shot him the same expression back. “You’re staying here most nights already. You’re keeping more and more clothes here. I have space for Grace when you have her for weekends. You were picking me up for work before whenever you weren’t here already, but now you wouldn’t have to ever. It just makes _sense_ ,” he finished huffily. 

“Yeah, yeah, I got you there. But Steven, you have skipped a very crucial step in how to build a romantic relationship,” Danny said exasperatedly, leaning towards Steve on the other side of the bed and giving him an annoyed look.

Steve’s eyebrows drew together in confusion. “I called Cath. She understands.” 

Danny sighed loudly. “And what exactly did you tell Cath I was to you?”

Steve’s face contorted even more as he went from just confused to both affronted and confused. “A pain in my ass, just like before?”

“No, no, I mean, how did you define our relationship to her?” Danny asked impatiently.

“I said we were seeing each other,” Steve answered agitatedly, still confused. 

Danny sighed again. “All right, while I am flattered that you have taken this so seriously that you have taken it upon yourself to call things off with your really smoking hot friend with benefits – which may I add is something I already knew because she and I also talked, genius – clearly, you’re not getting the point here. Let’s start over, by me rephrasing this: you have skipped a very crucial question, Commander. Who is supposedly very tactical. Your tactics here are very bad. You have not confirmed enough intelligence yet to safely proceed forward. Quit with the aneurysm face.”

“Quit saying nonsense at me!” Steve yelled, exasperated.

Danny’s mouth went into a thin line. “Steve. You’ve never asked me to be your boyfriend.” 

Steve groaned and rubbed his forehead with a hand. “I really don’t want to talk about this.”

“Uh-uh. If you want this,” Danny indicated with a sweep of his arms his naked body covered by a thin bed sheet, “then you need to use your words. If you can ask me to move in, then you can damn well ask me to be your boyfriend. I am a princess, McGarrett, albeit a low-maintenance one. All I need you to do is to DTR this situation.”

“DTR?” Steve looked up, his face screwed up again in confusion. 

“Define this relationship,” Danny said, enunciating each word carefully.

“Where do you _get_ these concepts and these terms? Did Grace teach you this stuff?” 

Danny closed his eyes and took a long, dramatic breath, then opened his eyes and started counting on his fingers. “One, why would I be learning anything about dating from my baby girl? She’s nine, Steven, nine! She is not dating for another decade! Or three! Two, dammit, Steve, this is normal relationship talk from the beginning of time! You don’t even get to be called a Neanderthal anymore, because I bet even Neanderthals DTR’ed.”

Steve looked at Danny with his lips pursed for a long moment. “I can’t do this right now.” He swung out of bed. “I’m going for a swim.”

“Ask me properly when you’re done sulking. I expect it to be extra special to make up for your hissy fit!” Danny yelled at Steve’s retreating back.

\---

Steve made Danny’s favorite dish of Steve’s that night, as a silent apology for their botched conversation earlier that morning. (He couldn’t make Danny’s actual favorite dish; he wasn’t ever very good at Italian--too many simple carbs.) After clearing away their empty dishes, Steve came back to Danny at the kitchen table with two opened beers. 

After they each took a swig, Steve cleared his throat. “Okay, Danny. I would like to ask you a very important question.”

Danny cleared his throat as well and made a show of turning his body towards Steve. “I’m on the edge of my seat. I can’t even begin to guess what you’re going to ask me,” he said smugly.

Steve ran a hand roughly through his hair with a sigh. “Being a smartass about this isn’t going to make it any easier.” 

Danny laid one of his hands over Steve’s. “I know. I’m sorry, babe. Really. Please ask me.” Steve looked at Danny’s face and saw that his eyes were warm. Danny was truly happy that he was going to do this.

Steve looked away and bit the inside of his lip, lightly bouncing one of his knees. Danny’s mouth slowly curved into a smile.

“Just be sure to make it special. Like I said earlier today. If you even heard that part.”

Steve stopped bouncing his knee and turned his head to narrow his eyes at Danny. “Daniel,” he said tersely. But hen he let out a breath, closed his eyes momentarily, and turned to look back out into the backyard, pausing for several moments before starting to speak. “I, uh. Okay. So, Danny, these past weeks, with, you know, us…together. They have been very special.”

“You should write Hallmark cards.”

Steve sighed audibly. Danny grinned and gave his hand an encouraging squeeze. 

“As I said, they have been very _special_. I… haven’t really ever felt this way about someone before. I want to…make it official. Because I don’t need or want any other options. I just want you. I want you to be my boyfriend.” 

With his free hand, Danny signaled for Steve to keep going. “Think like Jeopardy. Phrase it like a question.”

“I’ve got it, thanks, don’t need any more of your help.” Steve spoke curtly towards the backyard. Then he paused and turned back to Danny, turning over the hand covered by Danny’s to interlace their fingers together. Looking into Danny’s eyes, he said quietly, “Danny, will you…be my boyfriend?” 

Danny grinned slowly. “Yes. Of course. And I’ll move in. I’m glad you don’t ‘need or want any other options,’ though. Way to make a guy feel special.” 

Instead of fighting Danny’s meticulous deconstruction of his words, Steve countered by asking, “So why didn’t you just ask me this question yourself? I just assumed we were already on the same page.”

Danny shrugged with one hand. “Wanted to make you sweat for it a little. I made the first move, after all. My therapist suggested I try communicating more about what I want in my relationships, to help ‘decrease unnecessary conflict.’”

Steve replied dryly, “Only you would see relationships as playing chicken.” He wasn’t even going to touch the communicating piece. Suppressing a smirk, he scratched his chin, and deadpanned, “Maybe I didn’t ask because I’m a princess too? Did you think about that?” 

Danny laughed. “Oh, how could I have missed that, only a blind man wouldn’t see that about you.” Danny moved to stand up. “Okay then, babe…” he began, then swaggered a bit as he moved into Steve’s space. In response, Steve turned his body to Danny and gently pulled Danny in by his hips. Taking his time, Danny exaggeratedly settled his forearms down on Steve’s shoulders and interlaced his fingers behind Steve’s neck, getting a fond eye roll out of Steve. Then Danny nodded his head down to look very pointedly at Steve, and murmured tenderly, “Will you be my princess?” 

Returning the ridiculous grin that broke out over Danny’s face, Steve put his hand on the back of Danny’s neck and pulled him in for a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know that Danny would be the kind of person that would take the guidance of his therapist and very sincerely apply it to his life, but do it in fantastically incorrect ways. Of course, he stubbornly refused for years to try therapy when others suggested it to him, but then he eventually tried it out either because a) after his divorce, he learned that he needed to make some changes with himself, so he decided to turn over a new leaf and try to understand himself better, okay? or b) because he wanted to do better by Grace and decided that "getting his head shrunk" was a good way to do so. /Danny headcanon.


End file.
